Once upon a time, there was a great
actor named Nicolas Cage who was daring and inventive enough to eat a
cockroach for real in one of his movies. Cage was quirky and brilliant,
and his peers admired him enough to give him an Oscar. He parlayed
critical success into big paychecks in mega-productions like The Rock
and Con Air. When he first started appearing in such fare, he
invested his characters with as much conviction, energy, and uniqueness
as he did as a character actor. However, he quickly became a
monotone/monotonous somnambulant robot in junk like Snake Eyes,
Gone in 60 Seconds, and National Treasure. Cage still
appears in low-key dramas like Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and
The Weather Man from time to time, but I feel that his last good
movie was Face/Off, all the way back in 1997.

Next is yet another loud, stupid action movie with
poorly-conceived ideas about being able to see the future. It also has
the misfortune of featuring one of Cage’s worst haircuts ever. Like
Minority Report and Paycheck, Next is based on a
Philip K. Dick story, and like Paycheck, Next is so inept
and unoriginal that it simply rips off Minority Report for its
better ideas and visuals (such as the eyeball brace placed on Cage’s
head). Fans of Jessica Biel will be disappointed to see that there’s no
fan service at all. “Next!” is exactly what you’ll be saying after
seeing this movie.

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per
second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate

Audio

DD 5.1 English, DD 2.0 surround
French, DD 5.1 Spanish

Subtitles

Optional English, French, Spanish

Features

Release Information:
Studio: Paramount

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Making the Best Next Thing
• Visualizing the Next Move
• The Next Grand Idea
• Two Minutes in the Future With Jessica Biel
• previews for other movies

DVD Release Date: September
25th, 2007keepcase

Chapters 18

Comments:

Video:
The DVD boasts a strong 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen image. The
picture is about as sharp as one can expect with standard
definition, though oddly, there are some relatively static
scenes that are rather grainy.

Audio:
As to be expected with a recent big-budget action movie, the DD
5.1 English track is very aggressive and boomy with plenty of
fun directionality effects. However, this isn’t a very subtle or
artful mix, just an active one.

You can also watch the movie with DD 2.0 surround French, and DD
5.1 Spanish dubs. Optional English, French, and Spanish
subtitles as well as optional English closed captions support
the audio.

Extras:
“Making the Best Next Thing” is a promotional featurette.
This piece begins with everyone talking about how great Cage is
before the participants start talking about how great all the
other actors and the director are.

“Visualizing the Next Move” examines the creation of the
movie’s computer visual effects.

“The Next ‘Grand Idea’” takes a look at the shooting of a
date with Cage and Jessica Biel’s characters.

“Two Minutes in the Future With Jessica Biel” is two minutes of
Biel blathering about whether or not she wants to be able to see
into the future.

Finally, there are previews for other Paramount releases but not
for Next.